Deuce's roar was still lingering in my ears, and before I had even the time to respond, he'd jumped to his feet.

"Where are you going?" I asked, but Deuce didn't have the time to answer me. Without another word, he climbed on top of the table and began to hastily scan the room.

"Deuce!" I hissed. "Get down from there!" I pulled on the leg of his pants.

"She's not here," Deuce muttered angrily to himself. His blue eyes were filled with furious frustration. He then seemed to make a snap decision and proceeded to hop down and start to briskly walk away.

"Hey!" I called after him. Chase and I exchanged worried looks and without waiting for another moment, Chase helped me to my feet and then we were off pursuing the sound of Deuce calling out for "Dragonbreath Kat".

We caught up with him in the Entrance Hall, where he'd located the "evil, little liar" as he called her. She was on her way down from the library it seemed; she had books, a lot of parchment and quills cradled in her arms, and her dark blue eyes were wide with alarm at Deuce's screams.

"You!" he yelled as he marched toward her with his finger pointed accusingly at Kat. She stood perfectly still. Frozen into a statue in the middle of the stairway.

"Deuce," I said in a strained breath when Chase and I had approached him, "calm down. There's no need to-"

"Shut up, blondie!" Deuce seethed, and didn't even bother to look at me. His eyes were fixed at the anxious-looking Kat, whose own eyes were promptly filling with fear. "I need to talk to you, Anderson. Now."

There was a crowd forming, but Deuce didn't seem to care. The spectacle must've forced Kat to wake up from her hypnosis, seeing as she suddenly looked at me. Horror and dread shot out of her eyes.

What was she so afraid of?

"Have you been going around lying to people and telling them that we've shagged?"

There was a collective gasp following this question.

Kat looked back at Deuce. He was standing at the bottom of the stairs, and she seemed very liable to faint from the intense glare he was giving her.

"I-I-"

"And have you really fooled one of my best friends into believing that you were once pregnant with my kid?"

A louder gasp followed this one. Then a wave of murmurs passed through the room.

"I-I-" she swallowed hard before directing her troubled gaze at me. "Del, I never meant to -"

"You're apologizing to her?" Deuce questioned in an irate tone. "It's my reputation that you're dragging through the mud, not hers!"

She still had her gaze glued to me.

"What made you lie?" I asked her, feeling oh-so confused.

Kat drew a short breath. "Because..."

"Because, what?" Deuce cut in angrily, curiosity getting the best of him.

"You made my life a living hell," she suddenly said. Her tone was low and deadly, and her once wide and scared eyes now glared at me with plain disgust.

"Pardon?" I asked, shocked at her sudden change of emotion.

"You and your little group, but mostly you, destroyed me," Kat continued. I'd never seen her like this. Her stance was like that of a warrior, and her glare showed a surprising amount of hate. "The few friends I had completely cut me off after you cursed me with that fucking nickname. Nobody wanted to be seen with Dragonbreath Kat, or eat with her or even sit beside her in class. You," she dropped whatever she was carrying and pointed dramatically at me, "made me an outcast."

Kat breathed heavily. It was the only sound in the entire hall. Everyone waited on the tips of their toes for more.

"I spent years simply hating you. But I realised that it wasn't enough... I needed revenge." She paused for effect. My heart was thumping. "I needed you to feel like an outcast, to be robbed of your precious social status, to be just as miserable as I was."
Kat's lips curled into a smile. A smile that made shivers go down my spine.

Kat turned to him, smiled even wider, and said something that turned my entire world upside down: "I pierced her condoms."

Oh, god. This had to be what dying felt like.

"You did what?!" shrieked Chase, who'd been very quiet during Kat's speech.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Deuce spat.

Kat didn't respond. The crazed look had left her eyes and for a moment she seemed at a loss for what to do now. It was as if the air had gone out of her, and she slowly realised that everyone was watching her every, lifeless move. The proud look was gone, and she seemed simply lost.

"But," I began in whispers - everyone went silent, "why did you make me think we were friends?"

Kat had the decency to look guilty when I asked this. But only for a second.

"I didn't mean to," she whispered back. "But I actually... I actually began to..." She cleared her throat before averting her eyes with her long hair, and stared deadly into the air in front of her. "Anyway. That's over now. Everything's all out in the open."

She seemed almost sorry when she said this, but then her face hardened and all traces of a decent human being evaporated.

"At least now I don't have to listen to you going on and on about your miserable life," Kat added in a sardonic voice after grabbing the stuff she'd dropped. And while the hall was buzzing with whispering students, she walked down, pushed past me, and went out of sight.

I don't remember much after that. If I had to guess, I would've said that Chase and Deuce got me out of the public eye, because when I "awoke" I was lying on the floor in a dimly lit corridor with a pillow under my head and a blanket over me. It was the same corridor that Chase had dragged me into after I'd told him I wanted to keep the baby(back when I blissfully thought that there was only one).

"I can't believe this," I heard Chase whisper to his brother. "Kat did this to Del? Is she really the reason to why she's pregnant?"

"No!" Chase cut in. "Brayder would've left anyway, and we both know it."

"Maybe, but we'll never really know, will we?" Deuce argued. "I mean, you were there when he admitted that he was always careful when it came to protection. He literally thought Del cheated on h-"

"Well, the idea was preposterous, even back then," Chase huffed.

"Maybe we should contact him?" Deuce suggested. "Maybe that'll -"

"Make him change his mind? I seriously doubt it."

"It's worth a shot, Chase. Now we can tell him what actually happened. That it wasn't Del."

I heard Chase let out a sigh. "I don't know... He was a bastard. He never treated her right and he shouldn't be able to get a second chance. Del deserve someone who gives a shit. Someone who -"

"Someone like you?"

"What?" Chase asked.

"You don't want Bray to come back because of your own feelings for Del. Not because of his behaviour."

"That's preposterous," Chase replied. "I just don't want my best friend to be even more hurt than she's already been."

"Yeah."

"Yeah!"

"Fine, keep denying it," Deuce said while exhaling. "See if I care."

There were a few seconds of silence.

"You really think we should tell him?" asked Chase in a dull voice.

"If it means that Del would have a father for her babies, wouldn't that be the only right thing to do?"

No response.

"Chase?"

"Fine." Chase let out a groan that sounded more like a lament. "But I can't be the one doing it. I might hit him again."

"Yeah," Deuce agreed. "By the way, what was that about? You've literally never hit anyone before."

"He was talking to Del as if -"

"I rest my case."

"Oh, shut up."

After this I drifted back to sleep. Not because the conversation I was eavesdropping on wasn't interesting, but because I simply could not stay awake another minute. Reality was a fickle bitch, and I needed to sign off for a few hours.

So yeah, I'd reached a whole new level of disturbing. Apparently Chase fancied me(according to his delusional twin), they had both lied to me about not knowing where Brayder was, it turned out that Kat was basically the sole reason for my pregnant state, and she'd faked our whole friendship. She was a liar.

I couldn't believe I'd let my guard down for her...

"Morning delivery!"

I turned my head and found Tristan walking over to me. I was currently sitting under the big oak tree, having felt the need for some fresh air. The ground below me was green and snow-free due to the enchantment I'd cast on it before I sat down.

Tristan kneeled in front of me and showed off his glorious smile(which also made me smile - even now). He handed me a paper bag, and I took it carefully.

"What have you done now?" I asked in a low voice, and I heard him chuckle as I opened the bag. My favourite muffins!

"Aw, you’re so sweet!" I said, and thanked him by giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Tristan cleared his throat as he sat down next to me, leaning up against the wide treetrunk.

"Well," he couged again, "I figured, in your condition, with the extra baggage, you know…"

"I can still walk," I retaliated as I rolled my eyes.

"Barely," he said under his breath, and when he noticed I was about to open my mouth, he continued, "Anyway, I worry about you out here. It’s very…wintery."

"Thus, my coat." I pulled on the thick fabric, and Tristan seemed somewhat pleased with my answer. But there was still a strange light in his eyes. I knew that light.

"Stop it," I told him as I bit into the first muffin.

"What?" He looked at me as though he had no idea what I was talking about.

"Worrying," I said. "Stop it."

He sighed and gave me a crooked smile. "Can't help it, I'm afraid."

"And why can't you help it?" I managed to ask, even though my mouth was full of delicious baked goods.

He chuckled and then looked away. I waited for several moments for him to answer, but none came. I was growing impatient, and nudged him with my elbow.

"Why can't you help it?" I repeated, taking another giant bite of my muffin.

"I think..." he began. "I think it's because I love you."

And this was where I started choking. Literally.

And kept on doing so until Tristan cleared my airways with several quick flicks of his wand. He then took my hand and looked at me with serious concern in his blue eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I couldn't answer because of two things: 1. I was still trying to regain my breath, and 2. because he had just told me he fucking loved me!

After caughing and taking deep breaths for about a minute, he asked again if I was okay.

"What the hell was that about, Knight?!" I wheezed and yanked my hand out of his.

"Pardon?"

"When talking to a pregnant girl, you don't just casually drop into the conversation that you bloody love her!" I was panting some more. "Are you completely off your head? It's hazardous!"

"Oh."

Oh? That's all he had to say? Oh?!

"I mean, you give the girl some hints, or-or at least build up some momentum - you don't just drop the L-bomb on her out of nowhere!"

"I'm sorry."

He was looking down at his hands; they were fiddling with his shoelace. I suddenly felt bad about going off on him like that.

"No..." I said, sighing and squeezing my eyes shut for a second. "I'm the one who needs to apologize. I-I..." I swallowed and scratched my neck uncomfortably. "I'm not very good with... feelings. And it's hard for me to reason with people, so instead I shout at them."

I thought Tristan was ignoring me seeing as he wasn't replying at all. But when I lifted my face I found his shining eyes looking down at me, a small smile on his lips.

Then, out of complete nowhere(he had a tendency to do that, apparently), the bloke lifted my chin with his fingertips and planted a kiss full on my mouth. I was - as any normal, unsuspecting girl would in a situation like that - completely stunned, and didn't move until the lad began deepening the kiss.

"What are you doing!" I schreeched, staring wide eyed at the still smiling boy. "You can't kiss me like that!"

"What? Like this?" he asked, and kissed me yet again. And again, I pushed him away.

"Stop it!" I actually "wiped away" the kiss from my mouth, like a six-year-old with a severe fear of boy-cooties.

"Why?" Tristan simply asked, not at all offended that I'd just cleaned away his kiss. "You're not with Brayder anymore. You don't need to feel guilty or anything."

What he said made sense.

And after I'd thought about it for a moment or two, it made even more sense.

Here, right in front of me, sat this wonderful, kind, amazing, sweet, charming and supportive boy - and he wanted me. Not the popular and pretty Adella, but the pregnant and complicated Adella. The real me.

So if he wanted to kiss me...shouldn't I let him?

"Yeah," I admitted, looking at Tristan and now seeing him in a different light than what I did mere minutes ago. "You're right."

"So," Tristan dragged, giving me that lopsided grin, "can I kiss you again? Without you pushing me away this time?"

He smiled. I smiled back, a bit shyly actually. I felt nervous, but...a good nervous, you know?

So I nodded. I didn't dare speak, fearing that my voice would fail me.

The moment leading up to the kiss could only be described as...complicated. A part of me felt excited, another one was nervous, and the third one was - and I hated to admit this - that it was wrong.

But all my contradicting emotions was shut up when Triatan's soft lips touched mine - this time softer and gentler.

His palm cupped the side of my face and tilted my head so that he had easier access, and began caressing my face with the thumb of his other hand.

The only thing that ruined the experience a bit? Two tiny people practicing Karate in my uterus.

"Ow!" I complained, unfortunately saying this into Tristan's mouth. He pulled away, a bit confused.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked, eyes wide with alarm.

"No," I assured him. "It's just the twins, they are-"

"Coming?!"

I giggled. "No."

"Good," he sighed and slumped against the treetrunk. "Because I'm not ready for that."

"And you think I am?" I asked, raising my brows.

Tristan just smiled at me. "I think you will be. You know, when the time comes."

My heart fluttered. "You think too highly of me..."

His response to this: a snort. Yes. He snorted.

"Eloquent," I said at that, and laughed a bit.

"Well, it's just so idiotic that you're putting yourself down like that all the time." He picked up a tiny leaf and started tearing it apart, staring intently at it. "I mean, you're amazing! And pretty, and funny and cool, and smart, and -"

"You're making me blush," I muttered, lowering my gaze.

"There you go again!" Tristan sat up straight once again and grabbed my shoulders.

"Look at me," he demanded, and I slowly lifted my eyes. When they met his, my heart thumped extra hard for a second. "You are extraordinary. You are truly the most brilliant and original girl I've ever met, or will ever meet."

I blushed again and was so tempted to lower my gaze, but Tristan wouldn't let me.

"I could go on for hours, but we haven't got time for it, we have HR in a half an hour." I smiled at this, and he did as well. "So please just believe me when I say, very quickly, that you are incredible, and that I lov-"

He stopped himself mid-word.

I appreciated it, actuallly.

That's bad, isn't it?

"Della, can I ask you something?"

I nodded, again fearing that my voice would fail me.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

Oh, bollocks.

------------------A/N:

So sorry for the wait! But I hope this eventful chapter somehow made up for it :)